How to Maintain Your Electrical System to Remain Resilient and Reduce Maintenance Costs

Your automobile is the perfect example of a system that will last longer with routine maintenance.  Like your automobile, your electrical distribution system may let you down, just when you need it the most unless you take care of it.  With a car, you know you need to take it in for periodic oil changes and tune-ups at designated intervals.  Based on NETA testing and NFPA 70B guidelines, knowing when to perform periodic maintenance of the electrical system is now a no-brainer.  But how often should you consider performing the equivalent of that 50K or 100K-mile “tune-up” for your electrical equipment?  A good target to consider is every five years.

Have you examined for “silent changes”?

Are you sure that your outdoor switchgear lineup is still truly leakproof? Are you positive that no water has intruded?  Are failed cubicle heaters, excessive corrosion, and subtle corona damage a disaster waiting to happen?  Are the liquid-filled transformers still sealed and not breathing moisture-laden polluted air?  Are your indoor dry-type transformers being suffocated by insufficient ventilation?  The list goes on, and in fact, you should develop such a list. We offer a complete list free of charge if you wish to inspect your own electrical system. Our multi-point list will make sure you don’t overlook any of those silent changes. It’s yours just for asking; the only obligation is you have is to ask for it.

Have you kept up to date with your electrical utility?

You’ll also need to find out if your utility company has upgraded or expanded its distribution system. Has the available utility fault current changed, or has the utility company changed their protection settings?  NFPA 70E mandates that electrical studies and arc flash incident energy analyses be updated every five years. Have you done that?  An updated power system analysis, coupled with a comprehensive maintenance program, is in your best interests, the best interests of your employees, and the reliability of your distribution system.

Keeping up to date while keeping your employees safe

Just like the major automobile tune-up, an electrical specialty firm can provide a similar turnkey solution.  By first performing an updated power system study (i.e. short circuit, coordination, and flash), you can determine how to keep your electrical system and personnel safe. Based on these studies, you can engineer the modifications and retrofits for your electrical system (i.e. breaker replacement, setting adjustments, and perhaps the addition of ‘ARMS’ arc flash mitigation). With this combined approach, you can also implement your solution as part of your NETA maintenance testing. This is a significant cost saving since one firm can undertake the complete solution instead of the more expensive approach of deciding which firms to hire, taking bids from them, and having three times as many people underfoot.

We make specific recommendations regarding maintenance programs and practices to improve your system’s reliability.  To have us undertake a turnkey “tune-up” solution for you, please feel free to call us at (240) 582-3900 or email us at info@helioselectric.net.

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